Deuteronomy 33:13-17

Deuteronomy 33:13

“And of Joseph he said,

Blessed of Yahweh be his land,

For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,

And for the deep that couches beneath,

And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,

And for the precious things of the growth of the moons,

And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,

And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,

And for the precious things of the earth and its fulness,

And the good will of him who dwelt in the bush.

Let it come on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brethren.

The firstling of his herd, majesty is his;

And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox:

With them he will push the peoples all of them,

Even the ends of the earth:

And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

And they are the thousands of Manasseh. ”

When he comes to Joseph, Moses waxes lyrical. As in the case of Jacob's blessing in Genesis 49 Joseph is given an extended blessing, and some of the ideas are borrowed from there. But we may see that it was Jacob's blessing which clearly inspired Moses in his prophetic utterance. See Genesis 49:25 for the blessings of Heaven above, the deep that couches beneath, the everlasting hills, and the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brethren. The blessing is then extended to cover Ephraim and Manasseh in order to make up the twelve tribes now that Simeon's name is unmentionable (see introduction to this passage).

The heavy dews that fell from Heaven in the summer were a vital part of Israel's prosperity, together with the former and latter rains, and the waters that came up from below in springs were used for drinking, for satisfying the thirst of the cattle, and for irrigation. While they were not aware of the significance of the water table as such, they knew that below the ground was plentiful water. It came up in springs, and they could dig for it and find it. These were to be the blessings of Yahweh on Joseph's lands (as on all Israel's lands).

They were also aware how the sun brought out both the grain and especially the fruits, and how over the periods of the moons things grew, they knew not how, for harvests were related to the different moon periods as was the whole agricultural calendar.

“The chief things of the ancient mountains.” This may have reference to the forests which grew on the mountains and provided timber for various purposes, and/or the olive trees which provided oil, or similar.

“And for the precious things of the everlasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and its fullness.” In Genesis 49:26 the blessings ‘to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills' had in mind Joseph's great prosperity under God's hand in contrast with his brothers, seen as God's generous bestowal on him. Thus it refers to divine provision. Jacob saw his own previous blessing of Joseph as his son as having resulted in the bestowal of it all on him. Indeed ‘Joseph' would naturally be blessed because of Joseph's own supremacy. They would have been a wealthier and very influential tribe due to their descent. So Moses prays that such blessings will continue to fall on Joseph, although here he may well have in mind the spiritual side of Joseph's blessings. The ‘eternal hills' were regularly seen as a source of such divine blessing, for mountains were considered to be connected with divine things. The precious things of the earth would include cattle and agriculture, but may also have had in mind what could be dug from the earth.

“And the good will of him who dwelt in the bush, let it come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brethren.” The good will of the One who dwelt in the bush (Exodus 3:4. The particular word for bush is used only here and in Exodus 3), the God of Sinai, was the explanation for all the blessing on Joseph, and Moses prays that it will continue to fall on them and on the crown of their head, for they were descended from one uniquely set apart and used by God in a way that his brothers were not. In Egypt he had been a prince among his brothers.

So this is a prayer for prosperity to come on Joseph, water from above and below, fruit produced by the sun, and the harvests moon by moon, productivity and blessing in the hills and in all the land, and above all the goodwill of the One of the Bush (Exodus 3:4). They are to be a fruitful bough (Genesis 49:22). Joseph's separation from his brothers is a reminder of Joseph's distinctive career.

“The firstling of his herd, majesty is his, and his horns are the horns of the wild-ox, with them he will push the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth, and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” The firstling of the herd had the pre-eminence, the prospective place of authority, at least until defeated by another, and Joseph were like the firstling of a herd, strong and powerful. Their horns of power were like those of the wild ox. They will thus be like a triumphant wild-ox pushing back all their enemies, even as far as was necessary, for they were numerous, being made up of the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh. The source of their strength was the Mighty One of Jacob (Genesis 49:24). The greatness of Ephraim and Manasseh was already apparent.

The order is significant. We would normally in poetic parallelism expect the ‘thousands' to come first followed by the ‘ten thousands'. But Moses accepts God's verdict that Ephraim the younger son should come first (Genesis 48:19), and Ephraim was the largest. Ephraim grew so powerful that their name was often used as a synonym for Israel. But there was no hint here again of kingship or of royal power, again stressing the early date of the poem.